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Prosecutors try again in sex assault case

Jury selection starts today in the retrial of a former cop, retired teacher and church deacon who is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a young girl over four years.

Rodney Eddy, 69, of Mesa, will be tried over three weeks in District Judge Valerie Robison’s courtroom on 16 counts, including sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust as a pattern, and exploitation of a child.

Robison banned spectators from her courtroom under age 18 because of explicit testimony, including sex toys and child pornography, during Eddy’s first trial, which ended Feb. 19.

Eddy was found not guilty on two counts of sexual assault and 15 counts of possession of sexually exploitative materials.

Eddy was convicted on a lone charge of obscenity, a low-rung felony.

But the jury was deadlocked on 16 counts, and Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Savage immediately indicated his intent to try the case again.

“A lot of the testimony (in retrial) will be the same, but now we know his defense,” Savage said.

During February’s trial, the accuser, now 20, testified she engaged in regular sex acts with Eddy, starting in 2003 when she was 14.

She said she didn’t tell anyone about the incidents until after she was 18 because she didn’t realize at the time that it was wrong.

Eddy’s defense argued he was physically incapable of sex at the time, offering medical records indicating he had been diagnosed with erectile dysfunction.

A former deacon at Mesa View Bible Church, substitute teacher with School District 51 and retired Los Angeles Police Department officer, Eddy was arrested by Mesa County Sheriff’s investigators in December 2008.